Mom pleads not guilty to forcing kids to drink bleach

Friday

Sep 20, 2013 at 2:00 AM

SEABROOK — The Seabrook mother accused of forcing her 6- and 7-year-old children to drink bleach pleaded not guilty Wednesday to two charges of attempted murder and two charges of first-degree assault, according to Rockingham County Attorney Jim Reams.

Nick B. Reid

SEABROOK — The Seabrook mother accused of forcing her 6- and 7-year-old children to drink bleach pleaded not guilty Wednesday to two charges of attempted murder and two charges of first-degree assault, according to Rockingham County Attorney Jim Reams.

Wendy Wright, 33, of 15 True Road, was indicted by a Rockingham Superior Court grand jury on the charges that carry a maximum penalty of life in prison this month.

Wright uttered that she wanted to kill herself and her kids after regaining consciousness from her own dose of bleach, according to Seabrook police.

"I don't want to live. I really love my kids, but I wanted to save them from everyone else," Seabrook officer Keith Dietenhofer allegedly overheard Wright saying to emergency personnel treating her on June 18 after nine police officers responded to her home.

Wright allegedly held down her children and poured bleach down their throats. She waived her probable cause hearing at the 10th Circuit District Court in Seabrook on July 29, and the case moved on to Superior Court.

Both children were able to spit out most of the bleach they were given by their mother, who was calling it "medicine," according to police. After Wright became unconscious, the children went next door and met a neighbor, who called the police after the girl "barged in" the back door and asked "if her and her brother can stay here for an hour while (their) mother is sick."

"(The) girl said the mother (took) medicine and (the) mother made (the) boy and girl take medicine, too," the neighbor wrote in a statement to police, according to the police affidavit.

While fire personnel responded and treated the boy and girl, police went to the mother's apartment, where "a strong odor of bleach was present," according to the affidavit. Wright was unconscious on a love seat in the living room, police wrote, and there was vomit on her and the love seat. There was also a bottle of bleach sitting on the floor next to her, the affidavit states.

Seabrook prosecutor Scott Mendes has said the children have been placed in a safe home. Wright is being held in Rockingham County jail.

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